Dr. Jay Friedman relishes his role as dental outcast. Like a pesky younger brother who enjoys watching his siblings squirm, the 86-year-old dentist and public health advocate has for decades been poking and prodding at the oral health community over his personal obsession: wisdom teeth.

Friedman has argued for more than 30 years that removing a young person's healthy wisdom teeth -- called "third molars" by professionals -- is an unnecessary and irresponsible practice. While many dentists and oral surgeons have dismissed him as a traitor and a zealot, in 2007, people in the public health arena began to listen.

That's when Friedman published an article in the American Journal of Public Health claiming at least two-thirds of the millions of wisdom teeth extracted each year at a cost of billions of dollars were removed for no good reason. In pointed terms, Friedman accused his colleagues of ignoring the lack of evidence supporting the need for such surgery in order to line their own pockets.

My last day in the Navy I was checking out at various departments and when I got to the dentist I told him I had one more wisdom tooth that needed to be pulled. And believe me, it needed to be pulled. I wanted him to pull it so I wouldn’t have to pay a civilian dentist down the road. Well, the novacain didn’t work. For some reason it simply had no effect on me. I told him to pull it anyway. He had to break in two to get it out. And believe me, before he was halfway through I regretted my decision but it was too late to stop. Not something I’d do again.

My mother still has hers. When the neurologist who claimed to have read her cat scans 'missed' them, it tipped her off that he hadn't looked at the scans. She fired him and got a more competent doctor.

Mine came in angled to destroy my cheeks, and are a memory.

18
posted on 12/04/2012 11:14:24 PM PST
by Smokin' Joe
(How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)

I had an extra set of wisdom teeth that never came thru my gums. They used to get infected about every 6 months and I finally had a enough of it in my 20’s and had them removed. Haven’t had any infections since them.

I can understand preventative removal. Especially when done on older teens whose parents have already spent a bundle on orthodontia. Or the parents had problematic wisdom teeth and simply expect that their offspring will have similar trouble.

My husband and oldest child had problematic wisdom teeth that were removed. The younger three appear to have gotten my superior genes in regards to dentition.

“Watching how American of Japanese descent were rounded up and interred.

Disgusting...”

Agreed, Vendome, if they were citizens it was beyond inexcuseable. (If they were not citizens, they should have been decently repatriated if needed).

Sometimes when I think we are living in the worst of America I think of this, or of slavery, or etc., and I think no, this is not necessarily the worst we’ve been as a nation. The abortion epidemic puts in on par, I guess, although it is hard to put a weight on evil.

Kept mine....against ten different dentists and their desires. I was in the Air Force, and they kept talking about this twice a year for at least the first fifteen years of service I did. The key to this....is that you absolutely have to get to the teeth and clean them.

This guy is a quack. Biologically speaking, wisdom teeth are there to replace loss teeth over time. Now with fluoridation and people losing less teeth, they become a serious problem for many when they start exerting pressure on the jaw because they have no where to “erupt.” I hurt for years before I finally had mine removed as a medical necessity. So yeah, they need to be removed early to prevent problems later.

I had a similar problem when I was about 25 years old, my wisdom teeth were horizontal, still deep in my lower jaw and causing problems. The dentist made the incisions and chiseled into the bone. He couldnt grip the teeth with what he had in the office, left and came back with needle nose vice grips and they worked. Fortunately he had great pain killers.

28
posted on 12/05/2012 3:44:44 AM PST
by R. Scott
(Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)

Although you wouldn't know it to look at my teeth, as a youngster I never went to the dentist. Over the years I developed cavities which went unfilled. Two of my worst ones were in my very back molars. As a young 20 something, I finally went to the dentist. He pulled out the two bad molars and two beautiful new wisdom teeth filled in the spaces in no time. Eventually I did have the other two wisdom teeth pulled when I began to get earaches.

I suspect for many millenia wisdom teeth served the purpose they served me - to replace rotten teeth.

All of mine were coming in sideways - had them all pulled when in my 20’s. One side at a time.

My DH had one infected while he was in the Airforce, wouldn’t let him leave Vietnam until extracted. In his early 50’s, had one pulled and has permanent nerve damage (apparently the older you are when they are pulled the higher risk of nerve damage- surgeon told him point blank before the extraction he could have damage) He’s got one left and so far it’s OK. He should have had them all yanked out in his 20’s. (hindsight)

Mine came in straight and I still have them all at 52. However, I can see in part where this guy is coming from. Every dentist I have ever seen wants to extract mine. IMO, all they see is a $1,000 when they see a patient with wisdom teeth.

My wife is lucky to get me to the dentist at all. Any preventative or elective activities are out of the question. If it doesn’t hurt, keep your mitts, pliers and grinders off!

Bingo. It was a dental fad. Molars are provided for a biological reason. Until such time as they no longer appear, eff the dentists. Maybe that’s why their supposed suicide rate is so high—lack of molars to pull.

35
posted on 12/05/2012 7:50:11 AM PST
by SgtHooper
(The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.)

They've put my neck and shoulder on hold (just as they've always put something on hold for the last eleven+ months).

I'm receiving therapy for the elbow to see if they can fix the ulnar neuropathy without surgery. For the hand, I have a continuous passive motion machine (well, it's a space-age glove with individual CPMs for each finger joint), therapy, and lots of at-home exercises.

How's the reach behind the back?

39
posted on 12/05/2012 9:47:40 AM PST
by Scoutmaster
(You knew the job was dangerous when you took it)

My 25 year old son, who is in the Air Force Reserves, just got all four taken out at once by the military dentist. He had a bit of infection but otherwise was fine. I think you can say the same thing about tonsils. I had mine out last year at the age of 51. Dreadful recovery (3 weeks out of work)and I still don’t have my full sense of taste back, yet not getting colds and the flu, sinusitis, etc like I used to.

41
posted on 01/17/2013 7:44:59 AM PST
by AbolishCSEU
(Percentage of Income in CS is inversely proportionate to Mother's parenting of children)

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